By Jack BeresfordShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA New York woman was woken in the early hours of the morning by the discovery of a severely malnourished dog who was found hiding under her car.
Daniela took to TikTok, posting under the handle @simplywithdani, to share a glimpse of the distressing situation they were confronted with on a cold recent October morning. “My husband leaves to go to work at 4 a.m.,” she told Newsweek. “As he left the house he realized there was a dog under the car, hiding on the passenger side, between the two front tires.”
When Daniela came down to help, she recalls seeing a dog who was “very unwell and also quite scared.” As the video posted to social media shows, the dog was in a weak condition and appeared badly malnourished. “His nails were long and curved and stained with urine and his nose was bleeding as if he had been locked up in a cage,” Daniela said. “He was bleeding from his mouth and his rectum.”
Daniela’s first inclination was to call the police but, with most animal shelters not open for another few hours, she knew they would need to care for the injured canine before a more permanent solution was found. She decided to share clips of what was happening to TikTok in the hope it would help them get in touch with an animal rescue of some kind.
That proved a shrewd move with Daniela ultimately connecting with Pitbulls and Addicts, an animal rescue based in Staten Island, that volunteered to take the dog. In the meantime, Daniela set about making the pup feel as comfortable as possible. “We bathed him, fed him and gave him water,” she said.
Even then, after every cruel act he had likely endured at the hands of a human, there was a sense that the dog knew he was in safe hands with Daniela. “He let us carry him. He was so weak. He didn’t really walk with us,” she said. “He finally got to decompress.”
...Though he was taken in by the rescue later that day, the circumstances surrounding the dog’s cruel abandonment still plagued her mind.
Security camera footage offered little help, leaving Daniella speculating as to what happened. She has two distinct theories as to what occurred that day. “I live near a church and fear someone may have dumped him,” Daniela said. “The area I live in is not very populated, so I think they dumped him thinking he was going to pass away and the dog somehow got to where our cars were.”
Daniela noted that they had been driving earlier that evening and, with the temperatures dropping sharply, the dog had likely taken shelter under the warmth of the car. “It was probably the best form of shelter,” she said.
Alternatively, Daniela thinks the dog could have belonged to someone in the local neighborhood. “He either escaped or was set free,” she said. “He couldn’t have come from far. His nails were way too long and curved, if he was a stray, his nails would have been filed down.”
Sadly, stories like this are an all too regular occurrence. Strays make up the majority of dogs entering the shelter system. The ASPCA estimated that in 2024 alone strays accounted for 60 percent.
This dog was luckier than most in his condition. He was lucky to find a warm car. Lucky that Daniela’s husband works unusual hours. Most of all, he was lucky to find Daniela and, on some level, sensed that.
Seeing pictures and watching videos of the dog, happier and healthier at Pitbulls and Addicts, Daniela can’t help but contrast that with the placid dog she encountered that night. Talking to friends about the contrast, almost each and every one tells her the same thing. “It was probably the first time he felt safe and he could relax,” she said. It’s a feeling every dog should have. Sadly, too many don’t.
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